Matteo di GiovanniItalian, 1435–1495Saint Jerome in his Study
Can I see it?
Yes, on view now
Where is “Saint Jerome in his Study” now? Harvard Art Museums, Gallery 2540, floor 2, European Art, 13th–16th century, Cambridge. Yes, on view now. Checked September 29, 2026.
On public display.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the painting
Guilds played an important role in commissioning art in Renaissance Italy. Despite its religious subject, this painting was never intended to be an altarpiece. In September 1482, Siena’s Arte dei Notai, or notaries’ guild, installed this large painting in a reception room at its headquarters, and in the months that followed, payment was made to other artists for a monumental frame for the painting (no longer extant). Jerome is not shown as a penitent in the desert, as is more common, but as a humanist scholar studying at his desk, mirroring the activity and pose of the notaries at work nearby in the guild office. The saint, credited with translating the Bible into Latin, is seated at the center of his study, which is cluttered with the tools that serve him as a scholar. These same implements would also have been used by the notaries, who documented all legally binding transactions in the city.
Harvard Art Museums
Details
- Accession number
- 1966.3
In the catalog
Sources
- Harvard Art Museums
- Image: Harvard Art Museums — © President and Fellows of Harvard College
